A mega Children’s Day event and the Tenth Anniversary of Building Blocks Schools was celebrated on Nov 15th at Primus Public School with about 400 Building Blocks children and a total of 600 people attending this event. This was a huge success with brilliant performances from BB kids which completely mesmerized the audience asking for more!  Guests danced till their feet ached, clapped till their hands turned sore and sang their voices out with the children.  This lifted the spirit of the kids and left them performing at their best.  This one time yearly event drew a big crowd and the newspaper media to the event wanting to publish the article for Children’s Day!

Attendance and Nutrition

No. of students enrolled: 118

Total number of meals served this month: 3,254

No. of school days: 19

No. of Students Enrolled (Day): 89

Average attendance: 80

Attendance in %: 90

No. of Students Enrolled (ASP): 29

Total breakfasts served: 1,474

Total lunches served: 1,524

Total meals served at ASP
(After School Program): 256

Total number meals served since opening at Edelweiss: 120,475
Total ABC-BB School partnership meals since opening: 183,625

Curriculum

K4 Math – Focus of the month was in teaching Shapes, Fractions, Subtraction and Addition of numbers.

Shapes:  Activities included for reinforcing shapes were – Paper chains, Egg rolling, Build a triangle and Hopscotch.  Keywords used were – Circle, Oval, Triangle, Square, Round, Side and Corner.

Review of numbers: Addition, Subtraction of Numbers, Adding on, Plus, Zero, Minus, and Measurement.  Activities used for measurement were – Classroom measurement, Toe to heel measurement, Paper clip measurement and Measuring “how many blocks’?  Keywords used for measurement were – Decimal, Heavy, Light, Meter, Pound, Small, Centimeter, Foot, Inch, Short, Tall, Heavy and Light.

Fractions: Fractions were introduced in circle time activity.  Activities used for fractions were – Fractional snacks, Lines of symmetry, Can everything be shared, Part to whole and Name the part.  Keywords used were – Divide, Share, Half part, Equal, Whole, Third, Fourth, Numerator and Denominator.

K5 Math – K5 curriculum progressed into advanced topics.  Children practiced writing from 1-100, writing even and odd numbers and review on fractions.

Measurement and time were new topics discussed in the classroom.  Activity included taking the classroom measurement.  Children used their foot to measure how many foot spans was their classroom. Another activity was to record the height of each child in terms of how many blocks tall they are. Activity for heaviest to lightest and estimating water levels in cans was also conducted to assist them in the understanding of measurement.  Children were engaged in various activities to recognize time by reading hands of the clock.

K4 English – Blending sounds for alphabets taught were – “ue, ar, er”.  This was achieved through story and action.  Formation words taught were – fuel, clue, value, car, arm, jar, card, sister, waiter and singer.  Reviewed 42 letter sounds and gave writing practice of the alphabet A-Z for both upper case and lower case letters.

K5 English – K5 children were able to read the following sentences. “The rude little clown was very funny”, “Do you have a little sister?”, “Your little skirt is much too short”, and “I had a surprise party on my birthday”.  Pupil book 3 was completed through filling in the gaps, dictation, blending practice, review of tricky words and using the right vowels in sentences.

K4 Social Science– Little ant learns about seeds was achieved through centre activity- Sprouting seeds, Outdoor activity- Hide and seek, Story comprehension – What happened first? and Math- Seed count/ Finish the patterns.

Little ant learns about different plants was achieved through centre activity – Sequencing, Outdoor activity- Flower, Bee, Math and language- How many apples/where do I belong and Story comprehension – This is where I grow.

Maggie’s trip to the ocean achieved through centre activity – Sorting seashells, Outdoor activity- Follow the sea creature, Math and language- A school of fish and Story comprehension- Did Maggie see it?

K5 Social Science– Children learned about neighboring Countries and Oceans.  Children also learned the 4 Metro cities of India, the number of states in India, The Capital of India and the neighboring Countries of India.  For the state “Karnataka” (relevant to where they live) – They learned the Capital of Karnataka and Important places in Karnataka, They drew a map of Karnataka on chart paper. In our city “Bangalore” – they were shown important places in the city through a video.

K4 Reading time– Story books read were Jill likes Flowers, Let Us Pretend, Color Everywhere, A Pig and a Bee, I Like to Play and the Jones Family Story.

K5 Reading time – Yellow level, Red level- Nonfiction star and fish ex:  Star/fish, starfish, tooth/brush, toothbrush – the child will be able to read the words and sentences

K4 Native Language Kannada– Gave writing practice from 0-10.  We also started Kannada language consonants from “Ka- Ga”

K5 Native Language Kannada – Taught letter “Ka” through writing the letter, formation of the letter and by giving writing practice for the letter.  We also started Kannada language consonants from “Ka- Ga”

K4/K5 Genki English– How old are you? What’s your favorite color?  Fruit market, Numbers 1 to 12, Under the Sea, Eat! Drink! Dance! All of this was achieved through words, mini lessons, songs, games and karaoke.

Nutrition

Well balanced nutritious meals were prepared and served every day.  There have been many special occasions and children have feasted on delicious food this month.

Visitors

Wizz kids, Amsterdam and Rotary Club of Amsterdam visited Edelweiss and appreciated the significant growth of children and the program in the last few years.  They enjoyed spending one whole day at the school and visiting the slums attached to the Edelweiss school.

Puja, an employee at Google India, visited our Edelweiss Learning Center to connect Google with ABC-BB schools.

Special Celebration

Children’s Day is celebrated all over the world on 20th of November.  In India, the basis of Children’s Day is the 1st Prime Minister, Pundit (Pt.) Jawaharlal Nehru’s Birthday, which is celebrated on the14th of November. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was always very concerned about children, loved them very much and contributed immensely towards their development. The occasion of Children’s Day is not only an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy, but it reminds us of the mission and message of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. He always wanted children all over the world to grow, get education and prosper in life.

This year ABC-BB schools celebrated Children’s Day on November 15th.  Through ABC-BB partnership we realize that if the less privileged children are provided with proper educational foundation and developmental opportunities, they can break out of poverty and contribute to the society in which they live. On the other hand, failure to feed and educate the children ruins all the expectations of humanity.

A local newspaper published the Children’s Day and the 10th Anniversary event.  This is a special moment to share with all the ABC donors and members.  Thanks ABC members for the continued support.  With your kind gesture the ABC-BB partnership has gone a long way in helping the less privileged children in Bangalore city.

Special Thanks to the staff that supports Edelweiss at our Implementation Partner, Building Blocks, and also to our Project Funding Partner, Alternatives 4 Children.